GoWings1905

This is really hard to watch. There will be better days ahead this season, but boy the Red Wings are a mess. Desperately need Z back because there somehow seems to be a leadership void without him around.

His supporting cast is lacking now obviously, but Pavel looks completely off since he came back. Without Z and Helm too, no surprise the Red Wings can't score goals.

Wow. We just have to hope the healthy bodies help the Red Wings find their way because this is ugly in every facet right now. I'm even leery of that being a major difference because inconsistenty was an issue long before this wave of injuries. Not having Z is very noticeable. Nothing against Pav, but he just hasn't been able to carry the team with Z gone. I wonder if Pav rushed back because he does not look like himself.

Good call -- I didn't notice that until seeing the replay, but Tatar was less at fault than Kindl there. Pass from Kindl really handcuffed Tatar.

Awful giveaway by Tatar. He has looked great otherwise, but mistake ends up in the net. The Wings just can't get anything sustained offensively.

Down to three centers and Franzen was already playing there out of necessity. Andersson and Glendening are both 4th line centers too ideally. These injuries are unreal and it seems like the Wings have gotten hit with them significantly every season since 2008.

Very true. Sadly, some of them aren't very skilled at the other dimension either. Lashoff is fine as a defensive d-man, but Kindl and Quincey have really struggled at both ends. Smith shows spurts of being a solid puck mover.

Completely lost without Z. Pav looks off too still. This season is nuts. Another four game losing streak and now they will probably rip off four straight wins.

That third goal is a huge blow. I don't know what Babcock was doing. 4th line out in the final minute against Crosby and Malkin? Monster has to make that save though, regardless. This is his poorest outing of the season. The Red Wings have controlled play and are down two goals still.

The Red Wings don't look bad at all. Have the puck a ton and are controlling the play. Just struggling once again to put the puck in the net.

Babs is insane. Playing Cleary with Pav instead of Tatar? Abby shouldn't be there either, but it can't be Cleary.

Nyquist is easily the Wings most dangerous player tonight. I would love to see him and Pavel together even strength and on the PP.

Missed a major hold on Cleary, but call the hook on Kronwall. Yup, definitely playing the Penguins.

Is Monster just going to swim the entire game? He's flopping around non-stop.

Agreed. I don't want Filppula back just because Weiss has struggled. Filppula was terrible last season and had more than enough time to establish himself as a consistent offensive threat. I think, in theory, the Weiss signing made some sense because the organization wanted to use 40 and 13 together again and had nobody internally to fill the second line center role. Helm appears to have that capability, but they obviously couldn't bank on that with his injuries and poor scoring touch. I'm not a huge fan of long-term deals regardless, but it's the nature of the NHL now to sign free agents. At this point though, I would have rather taken a one-year flyer on someone like Grabovski than five years of Weiss.

As much as Weiss has struggled, he isn't going to improve by not playing. Hopefully he can fully heal and contribute upon his return. I don't want to make excuses for Weiss, but he has looked slower to me than his days in Florida. Speed makes a huge difference to a player's game. The Red Wings depth at center on paper is probably the strongest asset of the forward unit. Between Weiss struggling and the injuries to Z and Helm, it's a mess up the middle right now.

There's a lot of skill in those six shooters the Wings put out and none of them did anything remotely creative. 1-9 in OT and the shootout. Even 5-5 would make a huge difference in the standings right now.

Bishop is big, but why is everyone shooting right at him? Man, I hate the skills competition.

Does anyone have a deke?

If this gets to a shootout, Pav has to be involved this time.

I have no idea what the penalty was. That being said, how does Quincey end up on the ice in the last minute of every period?

Cleary and Sammy on the PP. It's like Babs is trying to negate the man advantage.

Quincey helping the other team score. He's back on track.

A month and a half?

Unreal. Should have never gotten to that point. Disallowed goal was a joke and more importantly, the Red Wings can't hold a two goal lead in the third. Still not sure how you don't use Pavel in a shootout, despite his struggles this season. There's switching it up and there's stupidity. I think Babs chose the latter with that decision.